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The Denver City Council has given green light to Denver International Airport (DIA) for negotiating the long term contract for the Denver International Airport Great Hall redevelopment PPP project.

The council approved a “pre-development” agreement, which will start a 6-month negotiation process between the preferred bidder and DIA. The results of the vote was 10-2 for the agreement. However, some council members expressed some concerns relative to the fate of current airport workers and relative to Ferrovial's track record.

DIA is being advised by law firm Nossaman LLP and KPMG in the process.

As we reported in early July, Denver International Airport (DIA) selected a consortium led by Ferrovial Airports and supported by the infrastructure investment firm set up by Magic Johnson, as the preferred bidder for the PPP project. The wining team is composed of the following local, national and international companies:

• Equity Partners: Ferrovial Airports International Ltd., JLC Loop Capital, Saunders Construction and Magic Johnson Enterprises
• Design & Build partners: Ferrovial Agroman and Saunders Construction, Inc.
• Architects: Luis Vidal + Architects, Harrison Kornberg Architects and Anderson Mason Dale
• Local Engineers/Contractors: Intermountain Electric, Civil Technology, Gilmore Construction, Sky Blue Builders and Burgess Services
• Equity Partners Legal Advisors: Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
• Financial Advisor: Citibank

The team beat out competition from two other bidders: Den Transformation Team DT2 (Manchester Airport Group) and Westfield LLC.

The airport project involves improvements on the airport’s Jeppesen Terminal, which features 1.5 million square feet of space, and includes passenger ticketing, baggage claim, ground transportation, international arrivals, shops and restaurants, office areas and the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) security checkpoints.

The total project investment is planned to be repaid through the concession's revenue, a portion of which DIA could claim. In 2014 approximately 46 % of the airport’s US$700 million in operating revenue came from non-airline operations.

Denver International Airport (DIA) is the largest airport in the United States by total area. As of 2015, DIA was the 18th-busiest airport in the world and the 6th busiest in the United States by passenger traffic with over 54 million passengers. It also has the third largest domestic connection network in the country.